The present invention may be considered to be primarily an improvement over the hay rolling machine comprising the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,574 issued to Albert M. Best and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, and also over the hay rolling machines disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,650,100 issued to Sherman S. Swan and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,636 issued to John W. Bliss.
Particularly, the patents to Best and Swan include a series of endless chains operable within a substantially vertical plane and including spring fingers which engage a swath or windrow of hay or the like while lying upon a field, said chains having one span movable vertically upward for engagement of the fingers thereon with the hay to elevate the same while the machine moves forwardly over the windrow which is being formed into a coiled roll of hay. In general, vertically extending stripping means are associated with the upwardly moving span of the endless chains to insure separation of the hay from the spring fingers and this operation generally results in forming a coiled roll of hay. In the Swan machine, the stripping means not only provide separation of the hay from the spring fingers, but also extend in a slightly forward inclined direction to give the hay a forward impetus which hopefully tends to throw the hay forwardly somewhat. It can be appreciated, however, that gravity is the principal force relied upon to cause the upwardly moving hay, as elevated by said chains and fingers, to move forwardly and downwardly into said coiled roll formation. But, in order to initiate formation of the coil of hay, the hay lying upon the ground must be moved forwardly and downwardly almost immediately after it is elevated from the ground and, thus, positive control over the movement of the hay is extremely important at this stage in roll formation. Unfortunately, the force of gravity offers no assurance that such degree of control will be provided over the hay movement at this initial stage. As a result, the stripping means referred to in said Best and Swan patents has not functioned in the maximum desirable manner which can be hoped for with respect to initiating the formation of a coiled configuration of the hay to form a roll thereof.
Also, the structures in the Best, Swan and Bliss patents for compressing the roll of hay as it is being formed do not effectively confine the coiling crop material and compact it to a desired level of density within the roll.
The features of the present invention disclosed hereinafter overcome the aforementioned difficulties of the Best and Swan hay rolling machines.